Chapter One: The myth that Knox ushered in the Scottish Reformation False claims regarding Knox as the Pioneer of Scotland’s Reformation John Knox, alias John Sinclair, is generally seen as the main pillar of the Scottish Reformation and his works are often regarded amongst evangelicals as the purest source of its history. Thus, James Edward McGoldrick, starts his Preface to his Luther’s Scottish Connections, with the words: ‘There is no doubt whatever that the Protestant Reformation in Scotland received its principle direction from the indomitable John Knox, a rigorous and courageous adherent to the Reformed version of evangelical teaching as espoused in Geneva by John Calvin and his disciples.’ … Full Article
Articles
Knox and Lever invited to pastor the Frankfurt church Acting under the words of our Lord concerning shaking off the dust and moving on where the gospel falls on barren ground, many English, Scottish and Irish Christians fled their countries when the tares of Mary’s bloody reign and French influence in Scotland choked true religion. Most of these exiles journeyed to Holland, Germany or Switzerland though others moved to far away Scandinavia, Austria and even Spain and Italy. Anywhere, it seemed, was safer than in Britain. The foreign churches which had been licensed by Edward also fled the country often to meet their English brethren again on the same church premises abroad. The main centres of these exiles on the Continent… Full Article
Ditzel’s Rebuttal Part Five
Dec 19
Dear Readers, This is the fifth answer to Ditzel’s fifth rebuttal but I now find that with a new publication on his site of his rebuttals, he has attached his sixth essay to the fifth which contains his criticisms of my dealing with John Murray. I have thus dealt with both essays together and there is thus no sixth coming up. God bless, George Ditzel’s culinary criticism Under the heading ‘Making Hash’, Ditzel starts by agreeing with Calvin, Gill and myself that faith is not the cause of our justification but the instrument by which we receive justification. He then asks the question, ‘How do we receive justification?’, though we have already been told correctly that it is by faith. Indeed, Gill uses the very… Full Article
Accusing Gill of ‘blunders’ Peter Ditzel’s third essay of ‘rebuttals’ on his website takes a most astonishing turn. Not content with aiming his Don Quixote lance at George Melvyn Ella, whom he takes to be a veritable wind mill (pun intentional) he now rides on to combat that great edifice John Gill under the titles John Gill’s Blunder #1 and John Gill’s Blunder #2. Needless to say, it is no difficult task to point out that the blunders are all Ditzel’s. Talk of a midge attacking an elephant! Ditzel mainly strives to outwit Gill on the grounds of logic rather than Scriptural exegesis. Ditzel thus claims, ‘Much of John Gill’s argument for eternal justification (he means justification from eternity, I take it)… Full Article
Ditzel’s disagreement on Scriptural and Church History In his first website essay allegedly rebutting my doctrine of justification, Peter Ditzel promised to challenge my view of Scripture in a following article which he subsequently entitled ‘The Debate as Based on Scripture’. However, now in his second part, he ignores my Scriptural evidence on justification from eternity, centering rather on my Scriptural evidence given to show that God justifies those at enmity with Him and begins by also rejecting my evidence concerning Biblical scholars and Reformers of the past. Once again, in his second paper, I find that Ditzel has fully misunderstood my position and chastises me quite unfoundedly for advocating beliefs… Full Article
How things began Starting around 1996 and continuing for some ten years, I wrote several books and a number of articles on the question of the timing of justification in its relation to faith, conversion, adoption, reconciliation, the forgiveness of sins and indeed all the blessings that God gives to His own in Christ which is our Heavenly inheritance and our lot for all eternity. There was no great reaction to my writings as the topic did not appear to have been of great interest and, anyway, I was hardly known at the time. Indeed one of the few leading evangelical writers who thought it worthwhile to disagree with me, a man of little learning but with quite a large following, quite misrepresented my views and told his… Full Article
PROTESTANT REFORMATION SOCIETY JOHNSTON ESSAY PRIZE COMPETITION 2015 Subject: Justification by faith – The article of faith by which the church stands or falls The British Society for promoting the Religious Principles of the Reformation was founded in 1827. GENERAL REGULATIONS 1. The object of this competition is to encourage students who are committed to the doctrine of the 39 Articles and who are in training for full-time Christian ministry to study thoroughly particular aspects of Reformed doctrine and history in relation to the situation of the Christian Church today. 2. Candidates are expected to be genuinely committed to… Full Article
How things began In the nineteen fifties it was customary for young undergraduates to share rooms, go on hiking holidays together and plan their future careers together. I am thinking of my own experience at college. No one challenged this social cooperation and display of friendship in any way. It was healthy and good in itself. Nowadays, owing to what is now called ‘queer-bashing’ fingers of suspicion are pointed to any two men or two women who share digs or plan holidays together. Just as MacCarthy feared there were Reds under all beds, we now are to suspect homosexuals or lesbians taking their imaginary place. During the sixties, the tabloids began to write of sexual confusion amongst people as if it were the norm. Usual… Full Article
